joi, 12 februarie 2015

The project I'm working on right now is a little book of rhymes for children about cooking and kitchen, written by Lucia Muntean (Genesis Publishing). As I always like to try something new, this time I planned to combine drawing on paper with computer coloring. I tried two samples, one drawing in pencil and one in ink. The winner was the ink version, with coloured outlines.

One requirement was that the reader could find new things at a second reading. That is how the little mouse and the star appeared as characters linking the poems, playing hide and seek in the picture or revolving around the text.

I choosed in the beginig a range of colors and a kind of atmosphere that I want to keep. (atmosphere related: we recently renovated the house and I already have had seen already a lot of pictures for inspiration. At my parents, grandparents and my home also , the kitchen is the heart of the house and I hoped the illustrations will catch this atmosphere - the place we all get togheter to eat but also to talk, read, play or learn).

I have attached a few ideas that I collect in a notebook and use them when needed here and there.

I've pined on the wall the first two drawings, because sometimes I get carried away evploring new stuff and lose connection with the rest of the book. When this happens I look at the first works and try to get back.

I made an animated gif with the coloring action. For a while I thought that every drawing made on computer is „lifeless” but it turns out I just did not spent enough time exploring. Now I think that if it is treated like a piece of paper, with freedom, with hesitations and deletions, mixtures happening right there, the work can become alive.